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My back welcomes the cushioning the couch has to offer, my neck resting on Robin's shoulder as his arm is wrapped around me. On the screen, a zombie movie—Beast Boy's choice—plays, and the zombies depicted in it begin walking freakishly towards the camera.
"It's here! It's here!"
I almost jump out of my skin at the shouting, holding my hand to my heart to calm down. My eyes peel away from the screen as I turn my entire body, forearms resting on the back of the couch as I shoot Cyborg a curious glance. A cardboard box sits behind him, wheeled in by a delivery man who ducks out the instant he can.
"What's here?" Robin jumps over the couch and the rest of us do the same, walking up to the Titan.
"My super-new, super-fast, super-powerful Maximum-7!"
I freeze, blinking away the confusion. "Please, what is a Maximum-7?" Starfire inquires, and I jerk my head in her direction.
"What she said."
"It's a new computer processor, eight times faster than the Maximum-6," Robin informs us. Smirking, he turns to Cyborg. "So, I guess we're upgrading the Titans' computer?"
Cyborg momentarily stops swooning over the box and its contents and shakes his head adamantly. "No, we're upgrading me!" he exclaims. "With the Maximum-7, I'll be able to do more, see more, and get more out of life than ever!"
Beast Boy's eyes widen in alarm. "Dude! You actually want to do more stuff My goal in life is maximum couch time." To exercise his point, the teen leans on the couch behind him, and I roll my eyes.
"Is your system compatible with it?" Cyborg catches my weary expression as I stare at the box beside him, frowning at it. "I mean, it's pretty modern technology."
"I'm with Ember on this one," Robin agrees. "I understand wanting to live life to its fullest, but... putting a chip in your brain?"
"My head's already full of chips," Cyborg states, tapping his head pointedly. Turning to me, he adds, "And I ran a complete diagnostic before I ordered it. The Max-7 is fully compatible with all my systems. Totally safe."
Having said enough already, he elbows the cardboard box and the sides fall apart. Inside lies a floating chip, and I walk towards it in wonder.
"Oooooh..."
"Yeah, that looks safe."
Cyborg shoots the half-demon a death glare. "Like I said... completely safe." He pinches the chip from before our eyes and backs away slowly. "Now, I am not wasting another minute without this baby spicing my life up. See ya!" With that, the robotic Titan salutes us before running out of the room.
"I can't wait for this to go wrong," I deadpan, lifting myself up. I flip back onto the couch, releasing a short breath as I grab the remote. "Shall we?"
~~~
Adonis makes me sick, I think as I watch him throw a man's weights into the ocean with a maniac laugh. He towers over the citizens playing beach volleyball, and they waste no time in fleeing from the scene. As Adonis continues to laugh, a blast from Cyborg's sonic cannon throws him to the sand, hitting the bus behind him with a grunt.
"What's the matter, Adonis? Starting to feel the burn?" Robin questions, arms folded as we stand before the villain.
Adonis begins to stand up, fists curled. "You weaklings don't stand a chance!" he roars, before grabbing the bus behind him and holding it up. "Adonis has upgraded!"
The villain throws the bus and all Titans except for Cyborg and I scatter. I stand in front of Cyborg, already slowing the bus' momentum, but the mechanic teen pushes me to the side nonchalantly and connects his fist with the vehicle. It breaks down the middle and I dive out of the way as one half of the bus lands where I was.
"So have I!"
Next, Adonis lifts a collection of weights and throws them in the air. I hold my hands out, gritting my teeth as they all come to a stop and the others disperse to attack Adonis. Once they're gone, I drop the weights into the sand slowly and avoid anything that falls my way.
My eyes turn blue and rocks form a gauntlet around my hands. I create fists and sprint towards the villain, grinning. My left hand rises to throw a punch but a shadow flies from over me and kicks Adonis, right in the face.
"What a team!" Cyborg exclaims, landing in front of me with a thud. He grins and I give him a small nod as two other Titans arrive on either side of me.
"Dude! Cyborg is more... Cyborg-y than ever!"
"Agreed. He now opens even larger cans of the butt-whoop."
I shake my head, the lingering taste in my mouth fading. "I'll tell you one thing: that chip is sure doing its trick."
Raven and Robin join us and we all watch in awe as Cyborg beats the villain to a pulp. I almost guiltily stare at what Adonis has been reduced to, but I quickly remind myself that he's the villain and he was going to do this exact thing to other innocent people.
I complete my train of thought as Cyborg turns around. He sports a giddy grin that is so wide, his eyes are almost squinted shut. "All right! We beat the bad guy! Just in time for dinner."
"You beat the bad guy, Cy," I correct.
"So, I guess that chip works," Robin remarks.
"Oh, yeah, with this thing driving my circuits, I can do more than ever!" Cyborg presses a button on his forearm panel and the T-Car arrives in front of us at the speed of light. "Hop in. We're going for pizza." I begin to walk towards the car along with the others but turn around to see Robin staring after Cyborg with a confused expression.
"Come on, Robin, we just beat Adonis! Celebrate with us!" I roll my eyes as the Boy Wonder doesn't move and walk over towards him, leaning forward to look him in the eye.
"Fine," he eventually concedes, tapping his lip as he always does whenever something's up. "But something... just doesn't feel right."
I narrow my eyes slightly before scoffing and smiling. "Yeah, you not wanting pizza. It's pizza! You're crazy!"
Robin's eyes glaze over and he looks back at Cyborg, before shaking his head and grinning at me. "Let's go before I change my mind," he says, pecking my cheek and breaking into a sprint. "Race you!"
My jaw drops and a scowl erupts onto my face. "Oh, you didn't—this isn't fair!" I begin to run after him but after realising I won't win that way, I take to the skies. It doesn't take long before I've reached around halfway and I look back to see Robin only two-thirds of the way here.
When he reaches me, I receive an elbow to the side. "You cheated!"
I raise my eyebrow. "Oh, and your little five second handicap wasn't cheating?" Robin opens his mouth and then closes it after thinking, and I smirk before pecking him on the cheek myself, whispering into his ear, "Yeah. That's right."
"Yo, lovebirds! Get a room already!" comes Cyborg's hollers from the car. He turns to the others and says something that I can't hear, bringing a smile to their faces as they turn to look at us. I furrow my brow before facing Robin.
"Come on. This time, it'll be fair." When Robin nods, I begin my sprint, the black haired leader following. It's not long before he passes me, and I grumble under my breath as he somehow speeds up, reaching the car in mere seconds.
"How—?"
"I win," he calls out cockily.
I reach the car, not having been that far behind him, and dive into the front seat before he can. "It's still one all, Bird Brain."
Robin wrinkles his nose at me argumentatively and slides into the back as I smile at him teasingly, waving through the rear-view mirror. His expression doesn't last, and he doesn't stop the smile forming on his face before he looks away, the smile not disappearing. I can't help but grin.
~~~
I stand in between where Raven and Cyborg sit as they play their game of chess. Looking up, I notice Starfire and Beast Boy sitting in front of the television, and I do a double take as I notice Cyborg on the screen.
"Cy," I begin, "you're on the telly?"
"Hell, yeah, I am!" he shouts, fisting the air.
"I thought our official marinade was Zorbrian spider juice." I wrinkle my nose at the unfamiliar term but Cyborg seems unfazed.
"Yeah, but that's because you slopflar ug mopzorn?"
His words cause Starfire to erupt in raucous laughter, taking a good few seconds to settle down once more. I exchange a confused glance with Raven and she shakes her head. "Mopzorn," the redhead sighs.
My eyes flit across the chess board and I note that Cyborg, playing black, has a significant advantage over white. Raven scrutinises the board, sighing as she is forced to sacrifice the game by moving her pawn up.
"Checkmate!" Cyborg stands up and as he begins to leave, I take his place opposite the half-demon. "Ooh, gotta go. Places to be, things to do."
"Wanna play?" I ask the cloaked girl, and she nods before setting up white.
"Dude, I'm getting tired just watching you!" Beast Boy announces, turning around from the couch. "Slow down!"
I place black's final pawn in the second row, in front of the queen as Cyborg shakes his head furiously. "No way! Thanks to the Max-7, I'm having the time of my life!" The mechanic teen runs off before anyone can object.
Raven opens the game by moving the queen's pawn two spaces, and I move my king's pawn to meet it. Before she can make her next move, the room flashes red and I sigh.
"Trouble!"
~~~
The jewellery store's alarms blare so loudly I can hear it over the car's engine, this time sitting in the backseat. The T-Car skids to a stop in front of a young man in a red jumpsuit with a division sign plastered in the middle and we all get out hurriedly.
"All right. I've got a skydiving class in fifteen minutes. Let's handle this one fast," Cyborg says, almost bored with the whole situation.
The man opposite us speaks up in a southern accent that makes me groan internally, "Y'all might be able to handle one Billy Numerous, but let's see how you handle ten!"
The so-called Billy Numerous suddenly splits, and before I can blink ten of him are surrounding us. I hear a resigned sigh leave Beast Boy's lips, and Raven turns to Cyborg.
"You're gonna be late for class."
"Face facts, compadres," Billy's annoying voice sounds, echoing off the skyscrapers in the street. "Y'all may have a heap of fancy powers, but Billy Numerous has gotcha outnumbered!"
"Great," Robin says. "He can be in ten places at once."
"Not even Cyborg could do that."
The Titan mentioned looks from Beast Boy to the Billy directly in front of him. "Watch me." With a cry, Cyborg charges, but the Billy moves away at the last second and the robotic teen bumps head first into the lamp post behind him. Cyborg rubs his head and stares in annoyance and disbelief as a group of four or five Billys laugh at him.
Cyborg's failure to defeat the villain quickly sets us all in motion, with Robin and I wiping out three Billys in the blink of an eye. I watch as they struggle to get up and duplicate.
"Bubba," they say in unison, "you just opened up a sixpack!" All of the Billys jump towards us but I hold my hands out. An invisible barrier seems to form as the wind carries them all to the ground. Robin readies his staff and launches in the air and I follow his guidance.
As they begin to overpower the two of us, green tentacles slink in and grab them. Beast Boy, unsure of what to do, holds them in his slimy grip, but two escape and begin to jump on him. His tired and annoyed glance is not lost on myself or Starfire, who blasts them away with her starbolts.
Once again, the Billys duplicate and jump on the alien girl. I launch myself towards them, prying them off of Starfire. She pushes them away as well, and when my hand finds hers I pull her out. The Billys collapse on one another due to her absence, but quickly regain their composure and begin to stalk towards us.
I bump into metal and turn around to see Cyborg behind me. The other Titans complete our little circle, as we find ourselves completely and utterly surrounded by a single man.
"Well, this here has been a humdinger, y'all—" one of the Billys begins.
"—But it's time for old Billy to split!"
I glance at Starfire and she looks behind me. Turning around, I see the last Billy zip around the corner, and I can't see any others as I do a full rotation.
"Which way'd they go?" Beast Boy wonders aloud.
As I begin to piece it together, Cyborg voices it. "Not 'they', 'he'." His harsh tone earns him a sharp glare from me, but I quickly turn to Robin.
"The original Billy is long gone—"
"—and he took his little loot bag with him," I finish.
"Come on," Cyborg spits. "We're wasting time."
A soft yawn leaves my lips as I take off into the air, my eyes turning red to wake me up. "Sorry," I mumble, rising higher before anyone can respond. I watch them all split up and I fly in the direction that neither Raven nor Starfire did, weaving tiredly through buildings.
My body glows softly, illuminating Jump City's streets. My eyes droop slightly as I scan the roads and alleyways, but I can't find the holographic trickster anywhere.
Because that has to be it, doesn't it? I'm on a team with a half-demon, an alien, a man made of metal, and a changeling, yet I have a problem with Billy Numerous and the origin and nature of his power. That's where I draw the line on the unnatural. What else could it be but a hologram or an illusion of some kind?
It gets to the stage where my conflicting and confusing thoughts are the only thing keeping sleep away. I have to stay awake. Just in case I can't resist the temptation, I move closer to the ground and intensify the flame to the point where it hurts my eyes.
"All right, Titans. Meet up." Robin's voice sounds through my communicator and I thoughtlessly flip it open, only to acknowledge.
"Sure. Where?"
"Here." A ping sounds and I press on the notification to see a marked location, thankfully not far from here.
"See you there."
~~~
I watch as the others fly and walk slowly up the hill, fatigue clearly setting in. Starfire seems to be the most affected by her tiredness, as she bumps into the lamp post at such a slow speed it barely affects her. The alien princess brings it down with her and bends the lamp part so that it acts as a pillow.
The grinding of the metal finally causes the other Titans to turn around. "Um, is she okay?" Raven asks, glancing at me.
"She's just tired," Robin interjects.
"Well, she's not the only one," Beast Boy states. "If I don't go to sleep before sunrise, it seriously mess with my afternoon nap."
An uncomfortable pause settles over us all, and I glance down at the sleeping Titan in envy. I want nothing more than to curl up and embrace sleep like an old friend, but I know I have to wait until we get home, or in the car at least.
"Even if we did find Billy tonight, we'd be in no condition to fight him." Robin glances from Starfire to Beast Boy to me, eyes half closed. "We need to rest."
"No thanks."
I turn around to see Cyborg's stern, determined expression. He socks his fist into his palm and glances at us all individually, as if assessing us. "What?"
"You heard me. I'm not letting some hillbilly human copy machine throw me off my whole schedule for tomorrow. I've got the Maximum. I can keep going."
"Yeah, well, not all of us have superhuman chips planted in our heads," I remind him.
The hint of a grin tugs on Raven's face and Robin turns to the mechanic teen. "Just don't push yourself too hard," he says.
Cyborg nods, and Robin grabs Starfire from the lamp post before Raven lifts us all in the air. I sit down slowly, before lying down and staring at the stars. I know it's a bad idea, and I can already feel my eyelids growing heavier and heavier as I do so, but I can't resist any longer.
Sleep calls to me, and I am too drained to do anything but answer it.
~~~
My fingers claw at the soft material under me as my eyes flutter open. I feel refreshed and exhausted at the same time, and my muscles ache as they occasionally do. I stuff my face in my pillow to suppress my groan before I slowly climb out of my bed.
My bed... I don't remember waking up and moving here myself—I don't think I would have even been capable of staying awake that long. I definitely fell asleep on Raven's platform. So how did I end up here?
I shake the thought away, deeming it irrelevant as I remember how Billy Numerous slipped our grip yesterday. Today is the day we catch him. I know it; I feel it in every fibre of my being. But first, I have to get ready.
Once I have had a shower and put on fresh clothes, I wander into the main room. To my surprise, no one else is there, and I wander over to the kitchen, stepping over loose wires to do so. I don't bother turning the light on, and just make a hot chocolate and sip it until the others come in.
"Looks like a good day to catch Billy," I hear Robin say before the door opens, revealing all four of them in the dim light from the hall. The Boy Wonder reaches over and turns the light on for the room.
"Um, has anybody seen..." I take a glance at the wires that coat the entirety of the floor. Attached to them is the sixth Titan, the one who stayed up seemingly all last night to catch Billy Numerous. "Cyborg?"
"Friend! Did you not have any of the sleep?"
"Sleep is no longer required," Cyborg's robotic, monotonous voice drawls. He rips the wire out of his head and turns around, pushing past us. "Billy Numerous."
"What the hell was that about?" I whisper when Cyborg is out of earshot.
"We have to follow him," Robin says, before, "Titans! Go!"
~~~
We follow Cyborg to the park, and I see him standing in front of a red bike rack, stripped bare. The lock lies on the floor, broken, the chain with it. "He was here." Two radars pop up on Cyborg's shoulders and begin scanning the radius. "Find him."
Robin walks towards the robotic male with caution. "Cyborg, it's great that you're working so hard, but... I think there may be something wrong."
"You just don't seem like... you."
"You're not Cyborg anymore. You're a cyborg. A robot."
"Your joyful smile is gone, you have ceased the 'boo-yah's..."
"... And you haven't made a joke all day. You're totally Cy-boring."
Cyborg walks past all of us as we speak: Robin, Raven, myself, Starfire, and Beast Boy. At the shapeshifter's last sentence, however, he whips around somewhat angrily. "I deleted my sense of humour to power the Maximum," he states before walking away.
Beast Boy sighs, the feeling of losing his best friend visibly overwhelming him. "You know, Cyborg's always had chips for brains, but he's turning into the one thing I never thought he could be."
"What's that?" Raven asks, as sorrowfully as she can manage.
"A robot."
~~~
My eyes search the roads for Billy Numerous as I fly through the city. I look over to see Beast Boy in pterodactyl form, Robin gripping him by the claws intently, my gaze resting on Starfire flying without Cyborg. I sigh, only hoping that we find him soon.
I round the next corner to see what appears to be a moving bridge. When I halt midair, I realise that it's exactly that. Hundreds of Billy Numerous duplicates carry the bridge that allows cars to cross from one side of the river to the other, and I can only wonder how he managed to break it free.
I only speed up once more as the other Titans pass me, but I'm still behind them. "Numerous!" Robin roars, loud enough for the thief to hear him. "What are you doing?"
One of the many Billys standing on the bridge looks up and grins. "Nothin', and if y'all believe that, I got a bridge to sell you!"
A humming noise stops us both from attacking one another, and I turn around to see the tornado of dust that Cyborg's kicking up as he runs, the speed immense. My eyes turn brown and the dust settles before it rises, quelling it.
Cyborg jumps on three vehicles, increasing in height before he launches off the last one. Scowling, he holds his sonic cannon out and fires it, but the wires sizzle. Bolts of electricity run through Cyborg's system before it shuts off completely and he falls through the air.
"NO!!" I scream, flying through the air. Cyborg's groans and shouts ricochet through my mind as I fly towards his falling figure. When I realise I won't reach him in time, I hold my hand out and try to lift his body, but I struggle with the conflicting emotions.
Anger rises in the form of fire and sadness in the form of water. My unsteady emotions rock the ground as one of my best friends falls through the air limply, and my scream doesn't stop as I try something—anything—to save him.
"EMBER!! STOP!!" I hear Robin shout. I open my eyes and see the dampened road below, everyone drenched in water. Burn marks lie unevenly across the ground, and I do a double take to make sure no one is on fire. Little pockets of flame seep through the cracks in the ground.
Cyborg hovers in the air—but so does everything else. Cars, the bridge, even the people I can see below. A tear runs down my cheek at the destruction I've caused, and I fight the urge to curl up into a ball. A shadow looms over me and I look up to see one of the Titans.
"Ember, look at me."
Raven's voice is soothing, and I nod numbly. "Listening." Under her hood, I see her soaking hair and immediately feel guilty.
"You have to reverse this. Okay? You're the only one who can."
"B-but, Cyborg—"
"Cyborg will be fine." Raven looks over her shoulder. "Starfire! Get Cyborg to the Tower." I turn around to see Starfire nod and Raven turns back to me. "Start by breathing in." I look down to the ground at the people hovering in the air but Raven tilts my chin and holds it in place. "Look at me, not them. Breathe in."
I oblige, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath in. I open my eyes expectantly, waiting for the half-demon to say something else. "Breathe out." I release the breath I have been holding. Raven smiles. "Are you feeling a bit better?"
I nod. "Yeah," I croak.
"Good. Do that again."
"Really?" When Raven nods, I sigh. "Um, okay." I take two more slow breaths, and I can feel each one lowering my heart rate. I still feel my eyes flicker between four different colours, and close my eyes to let it fade away.
"Now look at me." I open my eyes once more and Raven nods softly. "Okay. Repeat after me. Uh, Azarath Metrion Zinthos."
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos," I repeat, eyebrow cocked. "I get how this helps you, but how is this going to—?"
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos."
"Um... Azarath Metrion Zinthos?" It comes out more like a question.
"One more time. Go."
I know a Buddhist chant? I could just meditate normally, I don't have to say—" I cut myself off with Raven's knowing look and sigh. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos. But it doesn't help me, Rae. I don't even know what those words mean!"
"That's fine." Raven takes her hood off and looks at me calmly. "You know what this is?" She points towards the red gem on her forehead, and I nod.
"A chakra?"
Raven smiles. "It's not just the meditation. Different techniques work for different people. Now," she stares down and my eyes cast there too. It remains untouched, except that Cyborg is no longer present there, "you think you can fix this?"
I nod and close my eyes. "Yes."
"Think of something that makes you happy. Calm."
My eyes are red when they open, and the fire in the cracks creeps up towards me. I know I can't be calm when using this element, so I curl my fists intentionally. When Raven notices this, I shake my head at her dismissively.
Once I'm sure all the fire has receded into me, the water does the same. Slowly, the ground dries up, cracks becoming more evident, and I can hear a soft sizzle as it meets small flames still on my body's surface. Next, the road softens and the cracks begin to join up, though they don't completely mend. I breathe in once more and my body slowly lowers as everything does below me.
My feet reach the ground, and I exhale shakily. "Oh, my..."
"Ember!" No one can stop the green shapeshifter as he runs to me, tackling me to the ground. I pull him off me and stand up. "Dude! That was scary, but so sick! I thought you were gonna—"
"BEAST BOY!" Robin and Raven's combined shouts shut the Titan up before he can do too much damage.
I laugh softly and help him up, then look at the others. "Sorry about that," I say, chuckling softly. Still in a state of shock, I eye them cautiously for their reaction.
I get the one I'm least expecting, as Robin smiles. "I'm just happy everyone's okay. That you're okay."
My smile dissipates and I glance at him as he takes my hand. "You sure? I mean, I almost—"
"But you didn't. You saved us."
I smile weakly. "Yeah, but I'm the one who almost killed you all, too. Would you thank the arsonist for putting out the fire?"
"You're not the arsonist, Ember," Robin reminds me. "You're in control, now. You did it."
Robin's words play through my head and I smile, turning back to shoot Raven an appreciative look. "Yeah. I guess I did."
~~~
Robin and I stand before Cyborg as the computer signals that his system is almost finished rebooting and he's almost awake. Sure enough, his red eye turns on and his human one slowly opens.
"Did we stop Numerous?" he asks.
Robin shakes his head. "No. We had to break off the attack to take care of you." Robin looks at me and his 'and you' hangs in the air, though I don't construe it to have a negative connotation.
"We're actually reading the instructions," comes Raven's snarky reply from across the room. Piles of books sit behind the trio, one of the thickest ones in my hands.
"This microchip was indeed compatible with all of your systems,"
"But when you started shutting those systems down to feed the Maximum, your core operating hardware was stressed beyond its limits."
I look up and close my book, holding it tightly to my chest as I push my hair back behind my ear. "In short, you went into overdrive. You were doing too much and it broke you—physically, mentally—"
"—robotically," Beast Boy adds. I swivel to face him. He wears a red and white paper hat and his tongue pokes out through his teeth in anticipation, eyes widened.
I jerk my thumb in his direction. "That too." Beast Boy smiles and I nod my head at him. "Good job," I mouth, and his smile widens.
"To save your life, we had to remove it from your brain," Robin states, as the mechanic teen stands up and crosses the room.
When he falters, I add, "We had no choice."
"But... how am I supposed to beat Billy without the Max-7? I could barely keep up with him before."
Beast Boy stands up and adjusts the paper hat on his head. "Maybe you don't need to keep up with him," he points out, rather wisely. He begins to walk towards Cyborg confidently. "I can turn into the biggest, strongest, fastest animals on Earth. But you know what, dude? Sometimes, it's best to be a slow, tiny turtle." He closes his eyes proudly and holds out his origami turtle to back up his point.
I smile, and Raven walks behind him. "That would have been a lot more profound without the hat," she spits, and Beast Boy shoots her an irritated glare as she walks out of the room.
On the other hand, Cyborg smiles, and nods at Beast Boy. "Who would have thought BB had some brains in him?"
Beast Boy's scowl turns to Cyborg but he can't maintain it and itches the back of his neck sheepishly. "Yeah."
~~~
I slip through the stadium seats, not one of the Billys noticing me by some miracle. One of them, situated on top of a safe, takes off his sombrero and waves it about. "Hey, Billy! Look at this here funny Mexican hat I stole!"
"Olé, Billy!" another Billy exclaims, from on top of an elephant. "You're a good man."
"And a really good thief," a third Billy, this time in a car, adds.
"Not to mention one heck of a good-looking feller, Billy," a fourth calls out from the middle of a sea of mirrors. He flexes his non-existent muscles and laughs at himself. "Aw, Billy."
"Yo, Billy!" My eyes venture to where I know Cyborg is—the bridge. He smirks down at the astonished Billys. "Quit talking to yourself!"
The Billy that was with the mirrors places his hands on his hips, and all the other Billys that are standing do the same. "One against one hundred?" he scoffs.
"Hundred? You're all dumber than I thought!" another one shouts from far behind.
"Well, if one's not enough..." I take the cue and begin to move, rising in the air as the attention lands on Robin, "how about five?"
"Or ten?" Starfire floats into the air, seemingly ten starbolts at the ready. I know it's really two, but Billy doesn't.
"Fifteen!" I float into the air, four mimics of me behind me, each one with a different element at the ready.
"Twenty!" Raven calls from my other side.
"Thirty!" Beast Boy jumps down on the bridge, his four duplicates already there.
"Forty!"
"Fifty!"
"ONE HUNDRED!" we all exclaim, more doppelgängers now at the scene.
Billy seems unfazed and the one on the yellow storage crate says, "Well, butter my backside and call me a biscuit. Looks like somebody's done figured a way to duplicate my duplication powers." He pauses as he looks around at us, and I flash a knowing smile. "Y'all may have copied a copier, but you'll never be as good as the original. Yee-ha!"
"Titans! Go!" the original Robin shouts, and all one hundred of us charge. The many Embers join up with the Beast Boys, each of them separating into pairs. I join forces with the original Beast Boy as he skilfully evades multiple Billys before climbing a large, metal pole.
Billy creates a human ladder with several of himself and chases Beast Boy. I prepare bullets of water and fire them at the Billys, knocking them off, but they begin to evade my shots. Fortunately, it stops them from leaping at Beast Boy.
Once the shapeshifter reaches the top, I fall back to behind the pole as he turns into a snake and slithers away from the Billys' view. My hands ignite with the flame and just in case, I repeat Raven's mantra in my head. Azarath Metrion Zinthos.
The frontmost Billy stops when he can't see Beast Boy and turns to his friends. "Hey, Billy! I got one!" he shouts.
I rise into view and grin. "Did you?" I ask teasingly, cocking my head mockingly. Beast Boy jumps into view as a tiger and I hold both my fists out, touching as a line of fire hits the Billy square in the chest. Beast Boy jumps onto the second one and throws him off the edge. The other Billys bounce into motion and all begin screaming and running away as we chase them.
"Nobody, but nobody outnumbers Billy Numerous!" a Billy shouts from the top of the rubbish heap. He tries to duplicate, but gets stuck halfway and the duplicates merge. More of the defeated Billys are sucked into the original, creating a potential energy that I know won't be good.
"Really?" I ask, several more of me turning up next to me as we ask the question in unison. Five of us hold out our hands and a large bubble of water surrounds Billy as the energy explodes, leaving Billy in a heap of smoke.
"Aw, dang," he mumbles as I let him fall to the floor.
Several Robins walk up to Billy and the original places a hand on his shoulder. "Holograms worked like a charm, Cyborg!" he calls out, looking up at the bridge as he retracts his staff.
"I heard that!" Cyborg replies. He holds out his forearm and the duplicates begin to disappear. I turn and find Raven, smiling at her. "We brought down Billy, and I didn't even have to move."
"Dude, turtles know wassup," Beast Boy says, hitting the ground before us softly. He, along with Raven and Starfire, walk towards us and Cyborg begins to as well before he turns around and fists the air.
"Boo-yah! Now, what should we do with the rest of this beautiful day? Go fishing? Pig out on ice cream? Hang in the new game room?"
I look at the night sky, knowing it to be midnight at least. "You're kidding," I deadpan, the others shooting the teen a death glare, and I do the same as my eyes turn red.
Cyborg turns towards us and smiles. "Actually, I know exactly what I want to do."
I wanted to show how Ember's still in control—just what happens when her emotions are so extreme. You have to remember she thought Cyborg, one of her best friends, was dying, so you can image she'd have been pretty upset.
Just thought I'd do a little explaining thing here to clear stuff up :)